Daily Content Machine

Last episode, we talked about How to Find Your Passion. This was a very real topic for Ben as he was struggling firsthand with a lot of the things we were discussing.

In the days following the recording, Ben reflected on what we talked about and ended up writing an article on his own blog about setting his passion free. He realized that he was trying to solve the wrong problem. He thought the problem was finding his passion. What he ended up concluding was that he had no business trying to find his passion because he did not yet have a stable day job covering his bills.

His passion pursuits could not be free because he was using them as a tool to fill in the gaps of his monetary needs. What he needs is a day job that covers 100% of his bills first before he pursues the passion and he only has 50% covered.

We talk about the day job a lot in passing, but its importance is often missed. In this episode we talk about the crucial role of a day job as a foundation and define the right kind of day job needed to fully support the pursuit of your passion. An insufficient day job makes you vulnerable to Scarcity Mindset which leads to compromising your professionalism to pay the bills.

As fun as it is to talk about doing what you love, you have to go about it in the right way or you'll kill the passion. Do you love this thing enough to not do it right now? It would be a disservice to say "Drop everything and pursue your passion!" without first defining the necessary foundation required. This is the purpose of The Overlap Technique. Let's talk about it.

Finding your passion is no trivial matter. The problem seems to split everyone into two groups: Either you have no idea what you're passionate about, or you have so many things you love you're overwhelmed with possible options!

The difficulty comes down to thinking we might be passionate about something when really we just like the IDEA of something. When it comes to the act of DOING it, we often find that we don't enjoy the process.

Because passion is found in the doing, exploration is required for discovery. But exploration takes effort and time. Where can you afford to invest time when you don't know if things will pan out?

That's what this episode is about: discovering the intersection of your categorical interests. I'm going to throw out a number of questions to help you uncover this and my hope hope is that one or two of them combined may unlock something for you.

Today is a very big day. After 1 year of publishing two podcasts a week, we've made it to the 100th episode of the seanwes podcast.

To celebrate, I'll be giving away over $1,000 worth of seanwes products. The giveaway is exclusive to newsletter subscribers.

While the giveaway is pretty epic, it's actually only half the surprise. I normally write exhaustive show notes for each episode, but if I did that now, it would spoil 2 other special surprises that happen during the podcast, so you'll have to tune in to find out.

I wish I could tell you more about the topic without spoiling the surprises, but I will say this much: the conversation in this particular show is 100% on par with the quality you've come to expect from this podcast. The discussion was very enriching. We touched on a lot of real issues surrounding work, defining overworking, the importance of relationships, and why it's not selfish to put yourself first when it comes to your own happiness and well-being.

I guarantee you'll come away with a lot to think about and process in regards to the things that really matter in life.

If I could tell you exactly what you were thinking right now, would I have your attention? Whether it's business or personal relationships, we all want to be heard. We want people to hear what we have to say. We want people's attention.

Here's the terrible truth: people only listen to what they want to hear. It's true. Attention spans are short. We're bombarded with ads, we scroll through infinite feeds, we are masters at tuning out. If we don't want to hear something, we don't listen to it—it's that simple.

In order to be heard by people, you have to convince them that you're reading their mind. "I was just wondering that. That's exactly what I was thinking! How did you know what I needed?"

The answer is super simple: No, you're not actually reading their mind, you're doing the one thing almost nobody does—listening.

What are you listening for? That's exactly what we talk about in this episode. We go into what to listen for, and how to deliver what you have to say in a package of what somebody already wants to hear. You'll have people swearing you read their minds.

Not long ago, I had numerous, separate email lists for various things like newsletters, podcasts, and my courses. Things were very fragmented and confusing. Many people who wanted to receive updates of my new posts weren't getting everything because they weren't on all of the right lists—my fault.

I realized this fragmentation wasn't helping anybody. I was thinking of things very literally: there's "podcasts" and there's "newsletters." But when I took a step back, I realized that everything I'm about is helping you make a living with your passion.

Whether it’s newsletters, blog posts, podcasts, or videos, that’s what I want to help you with. It doesn’t make much sense to have individual lists for each medium. While I'm using different mediums to share new facets of the same message, it’s all fresh, relevant content.

If you're thinking of combining multiple email lists, running several lists of your own, or you're just plain curious, this episode provides an intriguing breakdown of the response I got.

I've mentioned in the past that I'm big on having no debt, but I haven't yet explored the topic exclusively. This episode is dedicated to defining The No-Debt Mentality.

I was planning to record a solo-show, but while talking about it to my wife, Laci, she actually volunteered to join me! So instead of just a personal overview, it's more of a behind-the-scenes look at how a married couple handles real life without ever going into debt for anything (that includes a house).

I know many of those who are younger are regularly shown the lifestyle of debt as being a given. It’s simply presented as something you do (and as something everyone does). But debt is always a choice. It’s a choice you make—and often justify. I want to show you one example of a couple who chose not to use debt as a tool.

You’re either the master or the slave. You own your life or you owe your life.

I'm hoping to especially be a voice for those who are younger to give a tangible account of what life looks like without debt. It's definitely not easy, but it is 100% possible and very rewarding.

Everyone is always looking for a way to conjure the ever-elusive creative muse. Can you evoke creativity on a whim? Is it possible to turn on creativity like a faucet?

Maybe not quite. But creativity is something we can facilitate. Creativity comes when there is an environment that can foster it. We must encourage creativity by setting up the right context.

You might initially think that creativity comes from freedom. But when there is an abundance of possibility and a wealth of options, creativity is decreased. What we need is restriction to challenge our brains. It's constraint that breeds creativity—not freedom.

In my last newsletter, I broached the notion of limiting choice. In this podcast episode, we dive even deeper into exploring the how and why of reducing choice for the purpose of boosting creativity.

We look at the places where we are most creative, how those contexts look, and how we can create similar environments in the future.

My wife is an aspiring writer but has been held back from really pursuing it by the fear of what other people think. The other night, she shared numerous personal fears related to putting her writing out there. With her permission, we're dedicating this entire episode to tackling all of those tough questions.

How do you respond to hate? Should you respond at all? What's the difference between hate and legitimate criticism? Can you still take away something positive from negative feedback?

We're going to get into all of this and show you why the only thing you have to fear is having no haters at all.

Some people dislike the notion of a 5-year plan. Others swear by it. The primary concern is "planning" yourself into a corner. We talk about ways to still set longer term plans while enabling spontaneity. Having a longer-term vision is important, but equally so is planning for margin so you have the freedom to pivot.

This episode is a followup from e068: You Have One Life – Set Bigger Goals.

My story begins with a computer repair business. I was in high school, and it was my very first business. I knew next to nothing about legalities, accounting, and taxes, but it was the perfect way to learn: diving right in.

The things I learned from this business carried me through the next several businesses. I've told my personal story in bits and pieces throughout the podcast, but I wanted to have a canonical episode the really focuses on the transitions between each business.

I zoom in on the reasons for going from one business to the next and review the lessons learned at each of them.

You'll hear how I went from one to the next, and the takeaways that continued to serve me in all of my future pursuits. It goes to show that even if what you're doing isn't that thing you'll do for the rest of your life, you have no idea how the things you learn will help what you do in the future.